新国立美術館で開催されているマティス展へ。昨年の東京都美術館でのマティス展はかなりの作品数で圧倒されて以来、マティスは気になる画家になりました。今回は作品数は少なかったですが、逆にマティスの一生をじっくりと味わえる流れになっていて、とてもインスパイアされた上、感動しました。
マティスは父親の希望に応えるように法律家を目指し、法律事務所の書記として働いていました。 しかし、あるとき虫垂炎になり入院。 入院中の暇つぶしとして、母から絵を描くことをすすめられます。そして、その絵具を使って描いた《本のある静物画》が、本展覧会も初作品。上手でした。(笑)マティスは、セザンヌにインスパイアされて、セザンヌの絵を研究していたこともはじめて知りました。
マティスは、よく旅をしたり、アトリエを転々としていたようで、アトリエそのものがインスピレーションソースにもなったとか。アトリエの家具の展示などもあって、インテリアにもこだわりがあったようです。
今回初めて知ったのは、舞台衣装もデザインしていたことです。そして、壁画やタペストリーなども、仕事として請け負っています。晩年は、健康状態はあまりよくなかったようですが、尊敬するルノアール先輩が、(笑)リウマチでも手に筆を巻き付けるようにして絵を描いていたことを思い出して、自分も作品を作り続けようと思ったようです。
だんだんとできることが限られていくなかで、切り絵をはじめました。アシスタントに色を塗った紙を用意してもらい、カット。作品が大きくなると、テープで貼って動かないようにしたり、大変だったようです。50代の頃に行った南の島の魚やサンゴ礁など、現地にいる時はただ美しさに打ちのめされただけだったけれど、タペストリーや切り絵を作る頃になって、あの時の感動の伏線回収となったようでした。
晩年の切り絵コーナーです。作品が少ないので、とても広い空間の中、鑑賞をじっくりと楽しめました。絵画に彫刻、舞台衣装に、壁画に、タペストリーに、切り絵…身体が弱くなっても、新しい可能性を見出し、作品を作り続けたマティスに圧倒されました。マティスにあやかりたいです！
最後は、アンリ・マティスが“生涯の傑作”と自ら評した「ロザリオ礼拝堂」体験へ。
ロザリオ礼拝堂は、光の入る角度も計算され、設計された礼拝堂です。一番光が美しく入る時間は、冬の11時なんだそうです。なんと今回、朝から夜までの光を体験できる再現展示となっていたのです！
感動です。日本に居ながらこんな体験ができるなんて！ 太陽の動きで、光が動いていきました。実際は、地球が自転をしていることに気づかないし、光と影が動いているところは見えないものですが、数分の間に24時間の光の動きを見ることができるなんて、なんとも効率的！
こんな風に光が差し込むのか～と現地でも体験できない相対性理論の中、マティスの最高傑作を満喫しました！人生にやる気が出ました。マティス先輩、ありがとうございました。(笑)
Matisse Exhibition at the New National Museum of Art: Experience the Recreation of the Rosary Chapel!!!
I visited the Matisse exhibition at the New National Museum of Art. Since being overwhelmed by the considerable number of works at last year's Matisse exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Matisse has become a painter of interest to me. Although there were fewer works this time, the exhibition was organized in a way that allowed for a deeper appreciation of Matisse's life, and I found it very inspiring and moving.
Matisse initially aimed to become a lawyer to fulfill his father's wish, working as a clerk in a law firm. However, he became ill with appendicitis and was hospitalized. To pass the time, his mother suggested he try painting, and the first work he created with the paints she gave him was a still life with books. It was well done (laughs). It was also my first time learning that Matisse was inspired by Cézanne and studied his paintings.
It seems Matisse often traveled and moved from one studio to another, with the studios themselves becoming sources of inspiration. There were also displays of furniture from his studio, indicating he had a keen interest in interior design.
What I learned for the first time was that he also designed stage costumes. Additionally, he undertook work on murals and tapestries. In his later years, though his health was not the best, he remembered how his respected senior, Renoir (laughs), despite suffering from rheumatism, would wrap a brush around his hand to paint, and this inspired him to continue creating.
As his physical abilities gradually became more limited, he began making cut-outs. He had his assistants prepare paper painted with colors, which he then cut. When the pieces were large, they were taped down to prevent them from moving, which seems to have been quite a task. The fish and coral reefs he saw during a trip to a southern island in his fifties, which had simply overwhelmed him with their beauty at the time, seemed to come full circle and inspire his tapestries and cut-outs later on.
In the late cut-out section, there were few works, allowing for a thorough enjoyment of the viewing in a vast space. From painting to sculpture, stage costumes, murals, tapestries, to cut-outs... Despite his weakening body, Matisse was overwhelmed by his continuous discovery of new possibilities and his persistence in creating. I want to follow in Matisse's footsteps!
Finally, to the experience of Henri Matisse's "masterpiece of his life," the Rosary Chapel.
The Rosary Chapel is designed with calculated angles for the entry of light. The most beautiful light enters at 11 am in winter, I was told. Amazingly, this time, there was a recreated exhibition that allowed experiencing the light from morning till night!
It was moving. To have such an experience while in Japan! The sun moves, but actually, it's the Earth that is rotating, something we don't realize as we don't see the movement of light and shadow. To be able to see 24 hours of light movement in just a few minutes was incredibly efficient!
To enjoy Matisse's greatest masterpiece in such a relativity theory of light coming in was motivating for life. Thank you, Senior Matisse. (laughs)
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